Jetix
Jetix (formerly Fox Kids in Europe, Latin America and North America) is a defunct worldwide children's television programming brand owned by Jetix Europe, Jetix Latin America and ABC Cable Networks Group (The Walt Disney Company). The Jetix brand was used for children's blocks and channels featuring action-related and adventure-related live-action and animated programming, most of which had previously aired on Fox Kids, as well as some original programming. In the United States, the block aired on Toon Disney (from 2004–2009) and on ABC Family (from 2004–2006). The Jetix brand (alongside Toon Disney) switched over to Disney XD in 2009 (or Disney Channel in certain European countries) in accordance with the company's focus on its Disney, ABC, and ESPN brands. The last remaining Jetix in the world in Russia, switched over to Disney Channel on August 10, 2010. Jetix Europe Jetix Europe N.V. (JE), formerly Fox Kids Europe (FKE), was a television broadcasting company operating children's oriented channels and programming blocks across the European and Middle East markets. Fox Kids Europe The first Fox Kids channel in the UK was launched in October 1996 and the Fox Kids Europe (FKE) was incorporated in November 1999 with 75.7% being held by Fox Family Worldwide (FFW) with the balance of ownership listed on Euronext. FFW was acquired in October 2001 by The Walt Disney Company and renamed ABC Family Worldwide Inc. K2 started out as a syndicated block for several local stations in Italy. In December 2002, FKE signed with BMG Europe for two Fox Kids Hits music compilation albums per year for 10 European markets. In July 2003, Fox Kids Europe relaunched Fox Kids Play interactive channel on Telewest. Jetix alliance In January 2004, Fox Kids Europe, Fox Kids Latin America and ABC Cable Networks Group agreed to rename its then current operations under a single umbrella name Jetix, which helped strengthen its then operations into a single force. The Jetix name was applied to its programming blocks which aired on ABC Family and Toon Disney, its television channels in Europe and Latin America, along with its programme library and merchandising. The Jetix name was chosen after the company conducted international research specifically with a number of children focus groups. Many of the children picked the name as it implied action and adventure, and the company was able to use the name internationally due to its ambiguity. Bruce Steinberg, chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Kids Europe, said that Jetix would help strengthen Fox Kids Europe's partnership with Disney while building new alliances to continue to successfully leverage its programming library and distribution. Jetix Europe would also formed a joint venture with Hornean Productions, Go!Animate Broadcasting Europe, Europe Broadcasting, Inc. and CSC Media Group as of New Year Day's Eve, 2005. On February 14, 2004, Toon Disney and ABC Family launched their Jetix blocks with Jetix Cards Live, the world's first concurrently online and television trading card game, with Toon Disney having 12 hours of weekly prime time programming to start and ABC Family with 2 hours weekday and 4 hour on weekends all in the morning. Fox Kids UK channel added a Jetix block in April. Fox Kids blocks started to change over in April and the first channel in France was changed over in August 2004.campaignlive.co.uk. (August 20, 2004) Fox Kids Europe becomes Jetix to appeal to boys. Brand Republic. In fall 2004 with the addition of three new shows, Toon Disney's US block was expanded to 16 hours. SIP Animation co-produced a few animated series with Jetix Europe during the 2000s. Jetix Europe launched GXT as a male teen channel in May 2005 on Sky Italia in Italy. Jetix India added a temporary branding to the channel of Action Vacation starting May 7, 2007 while running two contests, WWE 24x7 and Jetix Action Vacation, while adding a WWE and other new series, martial arts movies and some Disney movies. After Jetix Europe picked up Iron Kid for its France and Spain channels, Jetix Latin America picked it up in January 2007 from BRB International. In 2008, Jetix Europe licensed out Jetix France to The Walt Disney Company France and Disney-ABC-ESPN Television became its channel distribution partner. In February 2008, Jetix Europe was in talks to join affiliated companies, Disney Channel Europe, ESPN Europe and Disney–ABC International Television (DAIT), in their combined distribution sales unit. In June, Jetix Europe agreed to have DAIT take over distribution sales for all channels across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In November, the Central and Eastern European channel team won gold in the UK Promax Awards for Jetix Max idents. On December 8, 2008, Disney made an agreement to increase ownership in Jetix Europe to 96%, with intentions to purchase the remainder and have Jetix Europe delisted from the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. In 2009, K2 became a TV channel. With full Disney control over Jetix Europe, Disney indicated in February 2009 that Jetix blocks and channels would be switched over to Disney branding starting with the Jetix France channel with Disney XD on April 1, 2009. Jetix Italy management agreed to purchase the Jetix Italy company, renamed as Switchover Media, GXT and K2 from Jetix Europe in July 2009 while managing the Jetix Italy channel unit it re-brands as Disney XD in the fall. Toon Disney were replaced by September 2009 with Disney XD or the Disney Channel, except for the Arabian version. The UK channel switched over to Disney Cinemagic in March 2006. The final Jetix channel to switch over to Disney XD was the Dutch version on January 1, 2010, while the last Jetix channel to close was the Russian version. List of versions Other versions Jetix Play Programming Jetix owned the Saban Entertainment library which included shows from Marvel Productions. Jetix Animation Concepts, also Jetix Concepts Animation, was a brand used for animation co-produced by and for the Jetix global group by the American partner, ABC Cable Networks Group. From 2005 to 2009, Hornean Productions had partnered with Jetix Europe for the best co-production and co-distribution of animated productions for European children based on characters and spin-offs: such as ''The Adventures of Uniqua & Pablo'', [[Super Royals Action!|''Super Royals Action!]], [[International Super Spy: The Series|''International Super Spy: The Series]], ''3-Kangaroos'', ''Secret Mission: Zero Gravity'' and Sophie Santiago's Secret Files, airing weekdays from Monday to Friday from 24 hours and 7 weeks per day, during Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with over 120 schedules of the program library, for the channels of Jetix Europe and Jetix Latin America. Jetix broadcast ''International Super Spy: The Series'' exclusively through North and Central feeds in Latin America as of 2008. SIP Animation also co-produced few animated series with Jetix Europe during 2000s. Magazine In the UK, Future plc published the official Jetix Magazine. Published every four weeks, it featured puzzles and features based on the channel's shows. The magazine also came with a free DVD featuring shows from the channel. In other countries, including Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Romania, similar Jetix magazines were also produced. Jetix Magazine was launched in early September 2004 by Jetix Consumer Products and Future Publishing. Cavan Scott was the magazine's initial editor. With the purchase of the remaining Jetix Europe shares by The Walt Disney Company and the change over of the channels to a Disney branded channel, Future renamed the magazine to Nitro!, to become an independent magazine with the same general focus. Kids Cup The Jetix Kids Cup was an association football tournament in which kids from 16 countries competed to "promote fair play, sportsmanship and cultural exchange". See also * List of Disney TV programming blocks * List of programmes broadcast by Disney XD in the UK & Ireland * List of programs broadcast by Fox Kids * List of programs broadcast by Jetix References External links * jetix.net at archive.org, July 20, 2004 * jetixkidscup.com at archive.org * Jetix Europe * [http://www.parkproductions.co.uk/zeoranger/merch/mags/jetix/mag1.htm Jetix Magazine UK content] Category:Jetix Category:Jetix Europe Category:Jetix Latin America Category:Disney television networks Category:Television programming blocks Category:Fox Kids Category:Television channels and stations established in 2004 Category:Television channels and stations disestablished in 2010 Category:Children's television networks